Focus

And so it begins. This week will be the week where I begin on the long marathon trail once more. After my last blog a couple of weeks ago, I am really hoping that this is the focus I need to get me through a summer of running.

The Venice Marathon is the goal. It takes place at the end of October and, to be honest, particularly in the early stages of training, very little changes from what I have previously been doing. Except one thing. I now have a goal race for which to aim.

“back into the big miles”

I am going to add in a Wednesday run, in addition to my regular JogScotland routine of running on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am going to make a return to parkrun to inject a run with pace into my weekly schedule. And on a Sunday, I will slowly winding up the distance but even then, it will take a few weeks before we get up to half distance and beyond. What I describe as getting back into the big miles.

Since I wrote the last time about how I was feeling about my running, I am very grateful to the friends who got in touch to check in on me and to provide encouragement. It was a lovely reminder of the positive group of people who I am lucky enough to have got to know through running and that we all go through stages of our love/hate relationship with the sport.

“a bit of renewal”

The act of writing about it, to be honest, was a relief in itself. It might sound odd, but committing something to (virtual) paper, which I had been chewing over for quite a while, actually helped in itself. Just getting it out of me and into the blog was a start. I guess bottling up how I felt was not really helping much. And so now, it is like starting again, perhaps a bit of renewal, a line in the sand about what has happened so far this year and putting that behind me to then aim for something different.

In terms of running itself – and trying to focus on the positives now – I have felt a bit better these past two weeks. A solid few 10k runs with friends and with the JogScotland group has got me on a more even keel, even if the temperatures are now getting a bit warm for a cold weather running lover like me. While my first two marathons involved winter training for a spring race, for the past three years now, I have trained through summer for an autumn adventure.

Last year, the heat really got to me, and things were not helped by having a near three week gap in training due to working in Japan at the Tokyo Summer Olympics (which you can read about here). Quarantine there meant almost no running at all and I felt all through my preparation that that severely hampered things.

“bumps along the way”

While this time round I have no major holidays or work trips planned through the summer, I know that the plan will not be without its bumps along the way. It would be near on impossible to get through a four month training plan without some runs being missed through family or work commitments, so it is really about sticking to it as well as possible and not chasing missing miles if a run cannot be done.

I have also added a couple of events in to break things up. They will just become part of the training plan, so a half marathon in July, and then a return to the Aberdeen Airport Runway Run in September. This is an event I ran with our daughter back in 2019 and she has signed up for it again, so that will be a really nice event to do. And yes, it is what it says it is, it is a run on the runway at Aberdeen Airport. Thankfully at night when there is not a risk of a plane suddenly landing beside us!

“one major change”

Like my last few marathons, I will be following a free plan from the former American runner and coach, Hal Higdon. They have worked for me in the past so I see no reason to change now. The one major change I am considering for the race is to go with a pace group at the race itself. This is not something I have done before, but I think it would make sense in this case and perhaps offer some company along the way.

The Venice Marathon is not going to be like Manchester or Barcelona where there is support along a fair portion of the route. I think Venice will be more like Stirling – my first – which was a rural route through countryside, passing through a number of small villages and towns, before entering the more populated areas only for the final few miles of the race.

“mental preparation”

I do like to know about the route in advance, not so much about preparing for any specific hill or landmark, but more about the mental preparation for the race itself. As you can probably tell from my recent posts, I spend a lot of time thinking about my running as it means a lot to me, so getting my head sorted about a race is a key part of my preparation. I know others like to go in blind, but I prefer to have some idea of what lies ahead. The mental preparation is almost as important as the physical.

The other area of importance in training is rest. It might sound daft, but rest is a key component of any plan, giving your body time to recover and your muscles to gain strength. I know there are folks who run every day – good on them – but I definitely need a break when I am putting my body through the intensity of a marathon programme, so I will be making sure I get my rest days in. I will also be cutting back on my alcohol intake too. Nothing worse than a long run in the heat with a hangover I can tell you. This is not to say that I will not be drinking, but I will be a bit more focused on the following morning whenever I do have a little tipple.

It is not about denying yourself treats. Committing and sticking to a plan is one thing, but you also need to give yourself a break. You need to have joy when you are going through so much. My running has not been too joyful so far this year, let’s hope next week signals a big change in that.

Malaise

If I look back at my running so far this year, things look positive. In New York I ran my fourth fastest half marathon ever. At the Forth Bridge I ran my fourth fastest 10k race ever. On the face of it everything is going well. So why then do I feel so negative about my running in 2022?

This is something which has been going on for months now and I am really struggling to shake it off. Earlier this week I was off on Monday and went out and ran a half marathon distance on my own. Just like that. No special preparation or anything. Just went out and did it. I should be over the moon that I can do something like that, but I spent most of the run talking myself out of how crap I felt about it. About how unfit I felt. About how slow I was running. About everything. My running really feels in a malaise right now and I know I need to snap out of it.

About halfway through my half marathon run

Look, I know this is a real first world problem, right, so I am not looking for a great deal of sympathy about it. There are plenty of worse things that could be happening than this.

However, over recent years running has become an important part of my life – it is about the only hobby I have away from work so it does mean a lot to me as a means of relaxation and, of course, for the fitness benefits which it brings. I think if I am honest, the problem really dates back to the time when I injured my ankle in late December. I was just getting back into things after having Covid at the start of that month and was beginning to prepare for my Spring half marathons.

I think that setback really meant that my preparations for both Inverness and New York were significantly changed and they took on a different type of significance to perhaps what they would have had I been fully fit and firing on all cylinders. Do not get me wrong, I loved both events and feel privileged to have done them, but coming out of them I do feel like I have really just been drifting along this year.

My half marathon medals

In previous years I would be routinely checking what distance I had run that month or that week and being pretty rigorous about trying to run at least a marathon distance every week. That just became my norm. This year? I could not tell you how far I have run, but I know it will be significantly down on what I have done in previous years.

Now perhaps not being so obsessive about these stats is a good thing, maybe it makes sense to step back from that given the events of the last couple of years. But I do think that has contributed to this general feeling that things are going downhill and I am not as good a runner as I once was. This is not about setting PBs or trying to beat previous times. I have written lots of times before that this is no longer a priority for me, but I do want to at least feel that I am giving my best and I do not think that that has been the case this year. But in truth, does that really matter. I am still getting out there and doing stuff. That should be enough, but for some reason it does not feel like it is.

“that preys on my mind”

I also think my weight plays a part too. I know I have put weight on over the last year or so, but am really struggling to find the willpower to cut out the things I need to cut out in order to shed the pounds. I am back to that point where I do not like how I look in photographs – not that I am nearly as heavy as I was a few years back – so that also preys on my mind. I know it is stupid, but there it is. I think male body image is one of the most under-represented areas when it comes to mental well being and feeling good about how I look does have an impact on how I see myself. My weight is something I have struggled with all my life. Now in my 50s I guess that is never going to change.

“I need to hang on to that feeling”

But enough of the negative stuff, the only person I know who can change this perception is me, and I just need to work at it. I have had a couple of runs subsequent to the half and they have gone ok, so I need to hang on to that feeling for a bit and see if things improve.

The big step I have taken this week is to give myself the major goal for the year. I have signed up to race in the Venice Marathon in Italy at the end of October. Now this might seem a bit of an extreme reaction but in truth I have been considering an autumn marathon for some time now, but was not sure which one to go for. So the prospect of running in this great place and combining it with a holiday with my wife was a winning combination.

The big target for the year

Training for this will begin in a few weeks time – at the start of July – but it is not like I am starting from nothing and my friend Jeanette is also preparing for a marathon at around the same time so we will train together for it. This will be my third autumn marathon, so I know it will be challenging to run through the warm summer months, but that is just something to be overcome and we will feel the benefits of it I am sure when things begin to cool down. However, Italy in late October may still be warm (for goodness sake Manchester in October last year was warm enough) so anything we do through July and August in particular will be worth it.

And as I a going to be training anyway, I have also signed up for the Run Around the World challenge which I have done in previous years. This is being part of a team trying to run the equivalent distance of going around the earth. Another motivating factor to keep me focused.

Hoping to help get the team round

With some targets now set, I just need to knuckle down and get through the training. This will be marathon number five. I know what I need to do. As always when I start marathon training, I think this will be my last one. Who knows this time round? I just hope it gives me the mental kick to become a lot more positive about how I run and why I run. I really want it to work,

Travel

As someone who used to travel a lot (and I mean a lot), I really failed to truly appreciate the difference this made to my running. You don’t like a route? No problem, next week or next month you will be in a different city so you can run there. And then lockdown happened and everything changed.

Lockdown – and as a result not traveling – then provided another test. That of familiarity. How to adjust to running the same, or similar, routes all of the time and not get bored and fed up with it all. And of course for some of those days, it was not as if you had the motivation or ability to run with a friend or (even less likely) a group of friends to get you out the door.

“running came to a halt”

So for some this meant that running came to a halt or was at the very least cut down. While I kept running throughout this period – with long spells in 2020 and 2021 where I was running on my own – it was understandable how tough we all found it to maintain our enthusiasm for the simple pleasure of lacing up and getting out.

Now that we have been through all of that, 2022 has opened up some new opportunities once again, and for the past few weeks I have been incredibly fortunate to begin to enjoy a bit of travel once more, and as a consequence of that, some running in new places once more. And boy does it feel good (though with some caveats which I will explain).

As I mentioned in my last blog, I spent a few days in Stockholm two weeks ago. This was followed by a short trip to New York and then this week I traveled to Tel Aviv in Israel for another work trip. I ensured I ran in all three places and each of them posed unique challenges and opportunities.

In New York I ran on my own, taking advantage of staying in a hotel in Manhattan to run in Central Park a couple of times. I was only there for three days for work, so there was not much opportunity to do much else.

Exploring Central Park

Now I had had the pleasure of racing in New York earlier this year when I took part in the New York Half Marathon in March, so this time round it was just for pleasure, but boy did I struggle. On the Sunday when I arrived, New York was having a mini heatwave with high humidity and temperatures in the 90s so my run that day was a real mental and physical struggle. Clearly I was running after coming off a twelve hour journey to get there so my preparation was less than ideal, but even so, it was a bit of a test.

Taking advantage of some shade around the lake

Things were much cooler the following morning but it was a great reminder of the difference heat and humidity can make. The weather at home in Scotland has been pretty cool for most of Spring so this was an extreme view of how things will be when we hopefully get some nice summer weather.

Following New York and only a few days at home, I flew out to Tel Aviv in Isreal. The company I work for has an office just outside the city, but we were staying close to the old port area and this allowed me to run on the beachfront area. It also meant I could run with colleagues, so while I did not run the first day I was there (even for me, going out for a run in the morning when I only arrived at the hotel at 4am was a bit too extreme), on the second morning, we were out at 6.30am for a run with my colleagues Ofir and Raul.

With Ofir and Raul at the halfway point of our run with Jaffa behind us

The weather was also to play a part here, as while we were running early morning, it was already beginning to heat up and by the time we finished our eight km run, the combination of a rising sun and growing temperatures and humidity were already taking their toll. I really am not made for running in heat.

But while the conditions may have been uncomfortable, it was great to again run with friends who I had not seen for months (or years in Ofir’s case) and to get the opportunity to run along the front with the Mediterranean Sea lapping the coast was one not to be missed. It was also a great chance to see the outdoor culture of the city with some many people out running, bike riding, out on scooters, swimming in the sea or playing beach vollyeball. There is no doubt that in so many countries where the weather is a bit kinder than Scotland that this has a significant impact on the number of people taking part in outdoor activities.

The following morning I run myself in the other direction – on day one we ran towards Jaffa, whereas this time I ran north. Again, there was a nice, well defined route to follow up the coast the other way and while this area was not as developed as the sea front in Tel Aviv was, there were still lots of nice views to enjoy.

Looking south back towards Tel Aviv

I felt more comfortable during this run, though again as the sun began to come up and break through the clouds and the temperature rose, I was glad when I got back to the hotel for a bit of air conditioning. And at least this time, unlike the previous morning, we had hot water for a shower!! While I was looking for a cooler shower than normal after a hot run, I had not really expected to be having to hold my breath and have an icy one!

My final day in Tel Aviv prompted a run along the Yarkon River towards the centre of the city – and Raul joined me for this one. Another lovely route, with a bit more shade from trees and again an opportunity to see a bit more of the area. Being afforded the opportunity to run three different routes on three different days was a great bonus. Going back to what I wrote at the start, variety in running makes such a difference.

Crossing the river on our way back to the hotel

These last three weeks have been a tremendous reminder of how lucky I am and have been. To have had the chance to travel and to run in all of these incredible places. But it has also brought home to me about how hard life on the road can be. It has been great to meet colleagues once more and to visit, but it has been a bit of a shock to the system to have had such a busy spell. I know that when I got back from Tel Aviv, I was really shattered and still feel pretty tired now. Having had three overnight flights in eight days is less than ideal.

But today I was back out at home, and while all of these pictures from the places I have been are great, I think Aberdeen still has lots to offer, particularly when it is like this.

Running through the university area of the city

Blue skies, a gentle breeze, no humidity and temperatures in the teens in the early morning. For me, it does not get much better than this. Throw in a couple of friends to run with and this morning would have been pretty much perfect.

So while lockdown limited the chance to run elsewhere, this last spell has been a reminder of what I have been missing. Travel is great but so is being at home. For the next few weeks I have no travel plans for work, so it will be back to my familiar routes. And I am perfectly ok with that.